Azim Premji gifts Wipro shares worth Rs 12,300 cr to foundation

BANGALORE: Azim Premji has given away shares worth Rs 12,300 crore to fund a non-profit education initiative close to his heart. The transfer comes three days after he became the first Indian to sign up for the Giving Pledge initiative by the world's richest families to donate at least half of their wealth to charity.

With this, the 67-year-old chairman of Wipro has given away shares amounting to over Rs 20,000 crore to a trust that funds the Azim Premji Foundation.

The latest transfer of 295.5 million shares equals 12% of the total Wipro stock, said a statement from the foundation. The trust's holding in Wipro now stands at 19.93%. While the transfer is irrevocable, it does not count for a reduction in the promoter holding. This means Premji will have to sell a small stake to bring the promoter stake in Wipro to below 75%.

The money from the shares will be used for the expansion of his foundation, which aims to improve school education in the country. The expansion plan includes increasing the foundation's student capacity, setting up more centres and taking its overall headcount from 800 to 5,000 over 4-5 years.

With a net worth of about $16 billion, or about Rs 87,000 crore, Premji is India's third-richest individual after Reliance Industries' head Mukesh Ambani and ArcelorMittal Chairman LN Mittal. His foundation was set up more than a decade ago with an initial contribution of about Rs 1,000 crore worth of Wipro shares. The money will also help the Azim Premji University, based in Bangalore, scale up.

"The university has been established with a clear social purpose of developing outstanding professionals in the domains of education and development for the entire country," the statement said